Thursday, December 15, 2005

Mexican President Vicente Fox denounced as "disgraceful and shameful" on Wednesday a proposal to build a high-tech wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to stop illegal immigrants.

Concerned about the huge numbers of illegal immigrants streaming across the border and worried it could be an entry point for terrorists, a U.S. lawmaker has proposed building two parallel steel and wire fences running from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Coast. But Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has said a wall running the length of a border would cost too much.

There are many reasons why Vincente Fox doesn't want this wall built...but none of them have to do with immigrant's rights.

Mexico is a country with huge corruption and bureaucratic problems in all levels of government, has an exploding population that has difficulty feeding and clothing itself, and enjoys a huge influx of cash to its population through the import of American dollars sent back home from family members working in the United States. Closing the border would force many of Mexico's population problems back onto itself, and would also help to shut off the money tap that pours into Mexico from the US.

The huge cost of supporting an illegal population that grows by thousands every day is not ignored by Washington, nor is it unaware of the problem of imported crime, gangs, and drugs that leak like a sieve. However, it is the influx of potential terrorists that is finally forcing a "close the border" debate forward that should have been dealt with in previous administrations.